Major A wrote: > Art, > > So this is where the German language is now going. I know that this is > a word that is often misspelt, but only the internet allows people to > write "entlich" without being corrected. Knowing what the correct > spelling is (I lived in Germany for 18 years and did most of my > education there), I tend to shiver for a second, then read on every > time I encounter something like that (there are lots more of this > kind). > Particularly in American English, over time, the masses win. That is how words like "lite" or "brite" end up in the language, or brands like Kleenex and scotch tape, become dictionary words. I suppose it is revenge upon those elitists who either used roots from other languages to develop words, or just decided something should be spelled differently than the way something is pronounced. Over time, the more the "incorrect" spelling is used the more it is reinforced in people's minds, and slowly it becomes general usage. Personally, I think language should be flexible and evolving. English is often the first to come up with new words for new inventions and concepts, while other languages struggle with trying to find word combinations to describe devices. German and French are both bad for this, and create words that even Volkswagen ads have "fun" with. Just today, I was informed that the plural of octopus, is NOT octopi (which would be correct, if the root was in latin). However, since it is a Greek route, (okto -eight pous - foot) the correct plural is either octopodes (which no one uses, and is a Greek plural, not English) or in English, octopuses, however, I don't know that I have ever heard that word used either. So, for most, we have octopi, incorrect based upon academic word use, but in common use. My spell checker accepts both octopi and octopuses, but not octopodes. So much for word origins... now back to scanners.... Art ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe by mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with 'unsubscribe filmscanners' or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the message title or body
